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279:. SOE has been described as "a mixture of brilliant brains and bungling amateurs". Marks wrote that he had an inauspicious arrival at SOE when it took him all day to decipher a code he had been expected to finish in 20 minutes, because, not atypically, SOE had forgotten to supply the cipher key, and he had to break the code which SOE had regarded as secure.
497:
Described by Tommy as 'a real
Highland toughie, bloody brilliant, should be the next CD', he was short enough to make me feel average, with a moustache which was as clipped as his delivery and eyes which didn't mirror his soul or any other such trivia. The general's eyes reflected the crossed swords
488:
In his book (pp. 222–3), Marks describes the memorandum he wrote detailing his conviction that messages from the
Netherlands were being sent either by Germans or by agents who had been turned. He argued that, despite harrowing circumstances, "not a single Dutch agent has been so overwrought that
441:
signal tracers endangered clandestine radio operators, and their life expectancy in occupied France averaged about six weeks. Therefore, short and less frequent transmissions from the codemaster were of value. The pressure could cause agents to make mistakes encoding messages, and the practice was
450:
garbled messages ("indecipherables") so they could be dealt with in
England without forcing the agent to risk retransmitting from the field. Other innovations of his simplified encoding in the field, which reduced errors and made shorter messages possible, both of which reduced transmission time.
359:
had the limited advantage of being easy to memorise, but significant disadvantages, including limited cryptographic security, substantial minimum message sizes (short ones were easy to crack), and the fact that the method's complexity caused encoding errors. Cryptographic security was enhanced by
459:
The
Germans generally did not execute captured radio operators out of hand. The goal was to turn and use them, or to extract enough information to imitate them. For the safety of entire underground "circuits", it was important to determine if an operator was genuine and still free, but means of
33:
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to work it out the hard way for each message instead of guessing an agent's entire set of keys after breaking the key to a single message (or possibly just part of the key.) Marks wrote many poems later used by agents, the most famous being one he gave to the agent
258:
in
January 1942 and trained as a cryptographer; apparently he demonstrated the ability to complete one week's work in decipherment exercise in a few hours. Unlike the rest of his intake, who were sent to the main British codebreaking centre at
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for the home station to tell them to recode it (usually a safe activity) and retransmit it (dangerous, and increasingly so the longer it took). In response to this problem, Marks established, staffed and trained a group based at
472:. Marks's warnings fell on deaf ears and perhaps as many as 50 further agents were sent to meet their deaths in Holland. The other side of this story was published in 1953 by Marks's German opposite number in the Netherlands,
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who films his victims while stabbing them. The film provoked critical revulsion at the time, and was described as "evil and pornographic." The film was critically rehabilitated when younger directors, including
622:
The book was written in the early 1980s, but didn't receive UK Government approval for publication until 1998. Three of the poems published in the book were scrambled into the song "Dead Agents" by
393:. According to his book, Marks wrote the poem in Christmas 1943 about a girlfriend, Ruth, who had recently died in an air crash in Canada; supposedly the god-daughter of the head of SOE, Sir
177:
organisation. After the war, Marks became a playwright and screenwriter, writing scripts that frequently utilised his war-time cryptographic experiences. He wrote the script for
372:
While attempting to relegate poem codes to emergency use, he enhanced their security by promoting the use of original poems in preference to widely known ones, forcing a
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by deciphering the secret price codes that his father wrote inside the covers of books. The bookshop subsequently became famous as a result of the book
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He married the portrait painter Elena
Gaussen in 1966. The marriage lasted until shortly before his death at home from cancer in January 2001.
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987:. One of the central stories in Marks's book, the betrayal of the SOE Dutch network, is told from the Dutch and German points of view.
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independently checking were primitive. Marks claims that he became convinced (but was unable to prove) that their agents in the
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as a masterpiece. In 1998, towards the end of his life, Marks published a personal history of his experiences during the war,
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on his shoulders, warning all comers not to cross them with him. It was a shock to realize they were focused on me.
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There was a warning gleam in those forbidding eyes. 'What did you tell
Colonel Tiltman about the Dutch situation?'
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Lecture given as part of
Special Operations Executive Conference held at Imperial War Museum, London, 1998.
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Gubbins grills Marks. In particular he wants to know who has seen this report, who typed it (Marks did):
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Marks was born into a devout Jewish family. He was the son of
Benjamin Marks, the joint owner of
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There was silence as Celt met Jew on the frontier of instinct. We then went our separate ways.
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Marks's innovations, especially "worked-out keys." He was credited with inventing the letter
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as saying that his group's work shortened the war by three months, saving countless lives.
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he headed the codes office supporting resistance agents in occupied Europe for the secret
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he's made a mistake in his coding...." Marks had to face
Brigadier (later Sir)
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165:(24 September 1920 – 15 January 2001) was an English writer, screenwriter, and
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that had a disastrous effect on Powell's career, but was later described by
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Marks briefed many Allied agents sent into occupied Europe, including
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510:'Nothing, sir, I was instructed not to discuss the country sections.'
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323:. The fictional play was inspired by conversations between Marks and
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Marks and his wife Elena feature prominently in Hanff's 1973 book
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After the war, Marks went on to write plays and films, including
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Between Silk and Cyanide : A Codemaker's War, 1941-1945
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In 1998, Marks published his account of his work in SOE –
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had been compromised by the German counter-intelligence
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One of Marks's first challenges was to phase out double
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Between Silk and Cyanide: A Codemaker's Story 1941–1945
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Between Silk and Cyanide: A Codemaker's Story 1941–1945
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Between Silk and Cyanide: A Codemaker's Story 1941–1945
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From this early interest, he demonstrated his skill at
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Between Silk and Cyanide: A Codemaker's War, 1941-1945
468:. The Germans referred to their operation as "a game"—
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641:but frequently referred to his Jewish heritage.
1061:20th-century British dramatists and playwrights
213:, London. He was introduced at an early age to
197:, which was critical of the leadership of SOE.
1091:British Special Operations Executive personnel
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526:Leopold (Leo) Samuel Marks Historical Marker
286:, the Grouse/Swallow team of four Norwegian
16:British cryptographer and writer (1920–2001)
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147: 1966–2000)
941:. Philadelphia, PA.: J. B. Lippincott Co.
37:Leo Marks in 2000, at the opening of the
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521:
512:'And you always obey your instructions?'
434:Gestapo activities and "Indecipherables"
1116:English male dramatists and playwrights
846:Gheorgheni, Dmitri (17 November 2012).
659:
249:
1081:British Army personnel of World War II
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514:'No, sir. But in this instance I did.'
343:Developments of cryptographic practice
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883:. New York: Free Press. p. 602.
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810:. London: Harper Collins. p. 5.
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455:"Das Englandspiel" in the Netherlands
183:, the controversial film directed by
835:. Simon & Schuster. p. 250.
327:and real events in SOE. It featured
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290:saboteurs and his own close friend
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1106:English dramatists and playwrights
1071:20th-century English screenwriters
983:Originally published in French as
428:Will be yours and yours and yours.
368:Preference for original code poems
14:
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1066:20th-century English male writers
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977:Ganier-Raymond, Philippe (1968).
939:The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street
606:The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street
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421:Yet death will be but a pause.
254:Marks was conscripted into the
209:, an antiquarian bookseller in
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91:London, England, United Kingdom
75:London, England, United Kingdom
1019:Marks, Leo (27 October 1998).
981:. New York City: Warner Books.
858:
839:
824:
779:"A Cold Supper behind Harrods"
771:
759:"A Cold Supper behind Harrods"
751:
711:. Retrieved February 24, 2024.
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633:Marks described himself as an
628:Institute of Contemporary Arts
484:Reporting to Brigadier Gubbins
414:Is yours and yours and yours.
100:Cryptographer, writer and poet
1:
1096:Deaths from cancer in England
1034:"Leo Marks Poet, Writer, Spy"
652:
598:The Last Temptation of Christ
530:
200:
1012:Powell & Pressburger.org
538:The Girl Who Couldn't Quite!
321:A Cold Supper Behind Harrods
265:Special Operations Executive
242:and the shop's chief buyer,
175:Special Operations Executive
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1146:20th-century cryptographers
572:Marks wrote the script for
217:when his father showed him
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1121:English male screenwriters
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424:For the peace of my years
1136:Jewish military personnel
1126:English male voice actors
865:Between Silk and Cyanide,
848:"The Long Life of a Poem"
739:. London. 23 January 2001
639:Between Silk and Cyanide,
630:, London, in April 1999.
478:London Calling North Pole
405:And the life that I have
390:Carve Her Name With Pride
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426:In the long green grass
412:Of the life that I have
194:Between Silk and Cyanide
124:Between Silk and Cyanide
582:(1960), the story of a
307:Marks was portrayed by
273:local resistance groups
1086:British cryptographers
1008:"Reviews of Leo Marks"
937:Hanff, Helene (1973).
733:"Leo Marks – Obituary"
610:84, Charing Cross Road
527:
520:
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395:Charles Jocelyn Hambro
355:based on poems. These
235:84, Charing Cross Road
1076:British Army officers
709:Spartacus Educational
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446:, Buckinghamshire to
410:The love that I have
401:The life that I have
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349:transposition ciphers
682:"Leo Marks obituary"
557:(co-writer) (1964),
419:A rest I shall have
417:A sleep I shall have
384:The Life That I Have
250:Work in cryptography
157:Leopold Samuel Marks
110:The Life That I Have
62:Leopold Samuel Marks
1151:Writers from London
1025:Imperial War Museum
1021:"Codes and Ciphers"
956:Marks, Leo (1998).
877:Marks, Leo (1998).
831:Marks, Leo (2001).
806:Marks, Leo (1998).
737:The Daily Telegraph
680:(2 February 2001).
403:Is all that I have
985:Le Réseau Étranglé
645:Marriage and death
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302:General Eisenhower
292:'Tommy' Yeo-Thomas
211:Charing Cross Road
1141:Jewish scientists
1101:English agnostics
962:. HarperCollins.
890:978-0-684-86422-8
626:performed at the
595:in his 1988 film
549:The Best Damn Lie
444:Grendon Underwood
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686:The Guardian
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362:one-time pad
357:poem ciphers
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325:David Morley
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313:David Morley
309:Anton Lesser
306:
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269:Baker Street
256:British Army
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240:Helene Hanff
233:
230:codebreaking
227:
223:The Gold-Bug
215:cryptography
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120:(screenplay)
115:
108:
86:(2001-01-15)
18:
1056:2001 deaths
1051:1920 births
922:26 December
913:"Leo Marks"
783:Archive.org
743:17 December
691:24 December
579:Peeping Tom
462:Netherlands
337:Vera Atkins
329:David Jason
297:Peeping Tom
221:'s story, "
180:Peeping Tom
117:Peeping Tom
1045:Categories
852:H2G2 Forum
653:References
544:Cloudburst
531:Later life
407:Is yours.
244:Frank Doel
201:Early life
68:1920-09-24
998:Leo Marks
706:Leo Marks
624:John Cale
560:Sebastian
317:BBC Radio
267:(SOE) in
25:Leo Marks
917:IMDb.com
899:40776827
635:agnostic
576:'s film
569:(1968).
551:(1957),
547:(1951),
541:(1947),
288:Telemark
41:Museum,
950:Sources
867:p. 452.
788:15 July
439:Gestapo
149:
141:
51:England
966:
897:
887:
814:
466:Abwehr
351:using
331:, and
319:drama
132:Spouse
127:(book)
113:(poem)
593:Satan
143:(
139:
1002:IMDb
964:ISBN
924:2014
895:OCLC
885:ISBN
812:ISBN
790:2018
745:2014
693:2014
353:keys
81:Died
58:Born
1000:at
764:BBC
637:in
335:as
315:'s
311:in
275:in
225:".
162:MBE
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66:(
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
